Don't be misled by the trailers. “Leatherheads” is not a raucous slapstick comedy about old time professional football. It periodically dips its toe into those muddy waters, but overall it's a screwball romantic comedy in classic form. The movie is old-fashioned in the best possible way; it's funny, it has sharp romantic banter (never quite as sharp as it should be, however) and attractive leads. It also has something even the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s didn't try for: a great deal of warmth and elements of nostalgia. You won't leave the theater thinking you've seen a latter-day masterpiece, but this movie is likely to stick with you, popping up in your memory over successive weeks. It's almost, but alas not quite, the kind of movie that people don't just like, they fall in love with.

Coonley plays Dodge Connelly, head player of the Duluth Bulldogs. He's not quite over the hill, but the only course left now is downhill. And it seems to be the same for pro football in 1925, the year the movie begins. Sure, people turn out in the thousands to see great college players, like Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinksi), who was also a hero of World War I. But the bleachers for the pro football teams-mostly from industrial towns in the Midwest-have just a scattering of football fans.

Sharp-witted girl reporter-that's what they were called then-Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) is assigned by the editor (Jack Thompson) of her Chicago paper to track down the truth behind what a serviceman has just told them: Rutherford didn't really earn the Medal of Honor he's been awarded. It's unusual for a female reporter to tackle sports news, but Lexie's nothing if not game. And besides, she wants that assistant editor job her boss dangles before her.

She tracks Carter down; he's being managed by CC Frazier (Jonathan Pryce), a wily trader who's none too honest. Meanwhile, Dodge has come up with a bright idea-the very idea, in fact, that changed pro football almost overnight from a piddling, near-defunct sports venture into a multimillion dollar industry: he wants to get Carter to sign up with the Duluth team. Lexie and Dodge banter playfully in the hotel where she's come to meet Carter; it's clever stuff, very bright and sassy. While it's true that the charming, amusing Clooney could probably strike romantic sparks with a horseshoe crab, he and Zellweger make the screen sizzle when they're trading insults.

Carter, a genial, unsophisticated young man, happily signs up with the
Bulldogs, and Lexie tags along, following their season from town to
town. This gives time for her and Carter to also be attracted to one
another, which annoys Dodge. But what really irks him in a wry way is
that Carter DOES pull in football fans by the thousands, and gives them
what they came for: great football. He's clearly a better player than
Dodge, also clearly more up to date-Dodge doesn't like to face the fact
that football actually has rules. Conflicts arise.

Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly's script for “Leatherheads” has been
hanging around Hollywood for 17 years. It took the involvement of
Clooney, who rewrote the film as a screwball comedy (but unfortunately
was denied screen credit), to get the project off the ground. It's easy
to see that the genial, savvy Clooney studied classic romantic
comedies-you could imagine a movie very like this starring, say, Cary
Grant in Clooney's role, Rosalind Russell or Carole Lombard as the
female lead, and James Stewart or William Holden as the younger man.
Clooney was shooting for the ambiance of films directed by the likes of
Howard Hawks, George Cukor, Leo McCarey and even Preston Sturges-and he
comes pretty close to hitting that mark.

But the film is hampered by the football scenes. They're presented as
something close to Keystone Kops-like slapstick comedy, with balls
bonking beans, feet kicking crotches and so forth. Mud comes into play.
These scenes don't work as well as the romantic comedy material-and
there is either too many of them or not enough. We don't get to know
any players other than Clooney; they're trotted out for a scene or
two-there's an early sequence in which they reluctantly go back to
their “regular” jobs (factory worker, miner, farmer, etc.)-but we never
get to know them. They're just guys in skimpy protective gear,
including those distinctive, and probably useless, leather helmets.
These comedy scenes aren't timed very well-Clooney does better with
dialogue scenes, particularly when he's in them-nor are they as funny
as intended. The newly-appointed federal football commissioner (Peter
Gerety) introduces an unexpectedly serious element in the 11th hour.

The movie really belongs to the leads. We know that Dodge and Lexie
will end up with one another, no matter how much they squabble, no
matter how much she's attracted to Carter. And we know Carter will end
up covered in glory-and that Dodge won't resent it. He knows his
football days are nearly over, adding a touch of melancholy to the
film. Overall, as mentioned earlier, it's unexpectedly warm, mostly due
to Clooney himself. “Leatherheads” may be only intermittently funny,
but it's consistently warm, consistently interesting.

And it has three fine leads. Now that the previous batch-Nicholson,
Pacino, Eastwood, etc.-have aged out of the Movie Star slot, Clooney
has slid into it gracefully. There have been few actors who are as
likeable on and off screen as George Clooney-James Garner and James
Stewart both come to mind. In interviews, he's intelligent, amusing and
self-effacing, a delight to chat with. But he's also a good writer and
an able director; he can't seem to do anything entirely wrong. He may
have cast himself as the lead in this movie he co-wrote, co-produced
and directed, but he was the right choice.

Renée Zellweger is also perfect in her role, and she looks great in the
period costuming and cloche hats. It's easy to believe her as a
sharp-tongue girl reporter, always one wisecrack ahead of the guys.
John Krasinski, from “The Office,” is also ideal as the honest,
unsophisticated-but not naïve-young guy from the Midwest. As with
William Holden, it's easy to believe that there are some shadows in his
past.

[Written by AVRev] [START]
In terms of video quality, the film is shot to look like those of the
1940s. It is however, of course in color. There are numerous
semi-tones that give the image a soft glow. Object details are sharp
as well as are the textures. I expected to see compression artifacts
as Universal squeezed the film onto a single-layer 25 GB Blu-ray disc.
But much to my delight there were none to be found. Edge enhancement
is not an issue either. The cleanliness of the image sort of detracts
from the time period piece, but it was a pleasure to watch such a clean
transfer. The black levels are a bit light (most likely
intentionally). However, the shadow detail is very deep, creating the
popping image usually provided by vibrant colors. As for the colors,
they are not vibrant, but are accurate and consistent.

The audio quality is also very good. The dialogue is clear and
full-bodied. The jazz score to the film is well balanced and clean.
Sound effects are not given as much detail as is the score, but they
are solid. A slightly more enhanced LFE channel would give this film a
higher audio quality rating. Sadly, the surround channels are
lacking. Neither the music nor the sound effects are given much
presence in the surround channels. More could have been done with a
DTS-HD Master Audio track, but what is present is solid.

The Blu-ray release only contains really two bonus features. This is
disappointing as there were more present on the standard DVD release.
The first, and really only accessible feature for most people, is the
audio commentary with George Clooney and producer Grant Heslov.
Unfortunately, the commentary is fairly dull and probably not worth
your time. The rest of the bonus features have been consolidated into
a Picture-in-Picture feature (not accessible without Profile 1.1 or
higher players). In case you were wondering, the DVD release contained
four "making-of" featurettes and a section of deleted scenes, which are
not present on the Blu-ray.
[END]

“Leatherheads” is a relaxed but lively example of the kind of movie
Hollywood doesn't do any more-but here they have. The preview screening
left many in the audience puzzled, perhaps explaining why there was no
applause. But it's also true that the movie doesn't fully succeed on
its own terms; it's a friendly, likeable movie that could have been a
bit more. But this kind of film is so rare today that it's a pleasure
to see one that comes this close to a touchdown.